Cake artist Noel Mendez designs elaborate, abstract cakes — tall creations with textures and lively colors, sparkling from glitter or gold leaves. Flamboyant ribbons made with edible wafer paper often adorn the confections. “My spatula is my paintbrush. Cake is my canvas,” says Mendez, who was raised in Sonora, Mexico, and arrived in Boston six years ago. He says the vibrant palette of the paintings of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo inspires the hues that embellish the cakes he bakes from a Brookline commercial kitchen and sells by special order. “Customers often ask for a color scheme or a theme, and I go crazy from there,” says Mendez. But he remains consistent with quality ingredients to produce the intriguing cakes that have layers of fluffy sponge, buttercream, and Swiss meringue, which are then blanketed in ganache. The baker often adds dulce de leche to buttercream to include a hint of toffee flavor. He infuses spices in melted dark or bittersweet chocolate to create his own Mexican chocolate. At culinary school in Sonora, Mendez had little intention of becoming a baker — he planned to be a restaurant chef. His aim was to cook at an Italian eatery when he came to Boston and spent nearly three years at Babbo in the Seaport. “But I found my passion in cakes,” says Mendez. “The process is meditative and grounding.” In fact, this year, he placed 11th among thousands in The Greatest Baker competition, an online contest for bakers across the globe where the public votes. His 6-inch to 8-inch, four-layer cakes (10 to 12 and 15 to 18 servings) run $90 to $110, and up. For information about pick up or delivery and to order, go to cakesby-noel.com.
ANN TRIEGER KURLAND
Ann Trieger Kurland can be reached at anntrieger@gmail.com.
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